The Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Swallows are especially swift and efficient flyers, feeding almost exclusively on insects as they catch them in flight. What you most notice about them when they're perched are their very long wings, often reaching below their tail feathers. But it's usually in flight that you most recognize these birds as they use these sleek appendages to quickly fly, dive and turn in pursuit of a meal

But trying to photograph a swallow in flight might be a fool's errand. They are diminutive birds, so you've got to be close to them with even a zoom lens. And as they fly so quickly, maintaining a focus for a shot is very difficult. But on a cold and cloudy winter day at Phoenix' Granada Park I nonetheless endeavored to photograph some local northern rough-winged swallows while they were airborne. A few successful high speed captures quickly showed the agility and grace of the swallow as it seemed to mostly glide on its wide wingspan.

Unfortunately the northern rough-winged swallow is not as brilliantly colored as other swallow varieties that visit the state; among these are the barn, cliff and violet-green. But even out on a drab day photographing this drabbest member of the family, I was still able to appreciate the exceptional beauty in this bird's movements.